Some years ago, GEASYT performed building services and structures design for the Local Health Care Centre in San Blas project, work of the architects estudio.entresitio: María Hurtado de Mendoza Wahrolén, César Jiménez de Tejada Benavides y José María Hurtado de Mendoza Wahrolén.

The description of the project by the architects is presented below, you can download the complete file, with photos by Roland Halbe, from their website.

The healthcare centre San Blas works with the idea of a “placeless building” like a very effective and categorical kind of way to develop a functional healthcare program situated in an almost irrelevant environment.

To underline the space richness in its interiors, we fell back on the corbusian idea of “conciliation of contraries”. A hermetic and massive exterior is put into contrast with the interior open and light space. To obtain this, we not only work with tracks in order to compose a clear functional program, but also with the array of possibilities that materials such as concrete, glass and tiles give us.

In contrast to this light system, fragmented by courtyards, the massive and closed facade is perceived as a thick and blind mass of fairfaced concrete. The inexistence of apertures in the vertical panels of the exterior jacket, provokes that the interior-exterior relation of the building is perceived vertically, stretching out to reach the sky. The translucence and reflective characteristics of the glass multiplies the views due to the reflected symmetry and combined with the reflective properties of the vertical panels of blue tiles disposed like shingles that help to conjure up a spacious and bright interior ambiance, almost as if the firmament was becoming part of the interior.

Check out the teaser of the video-interview by StudioBanana.tv, you can catch the full interview here.

As mentioned in our previous article, GEASYT participated in the project and construction works for the conditioning of the roof of the building situated in Raimundo Fernández Villaverde 8, Madrid; which is managed by Madrid Espacios y Congresos.

The building is two floors high and the roof is landscaped in order to reduce the visual impact of the building’s services machines. With this in mind, a series of pyramidal volumes made out of steel with circular cross-sections are designed to contain the equipment.

The exterior surfaces on the sides of the pyramids are designed in order to provide correct ventilation to the equipment located inside through a steel grid; as well as holding a small garden, held inside stainless steel flowerpots, with elix variegatade, teucrium fructican, escallonia macrantha and spiraea van houitei.

The pyramids’ roofs are covered with tramex and artificial turf.

The building’s roof is covered with white fine gravel and pine bark in triangular sections, allowing for transit through flagstone-covered walkways.

The inside of the pyramids is perfectly conditioned for the equipment’s maintenance, with individual lighting for each pyramid.

In conclusion, the landscaping of the building’s roof in order to reduce the visual impact of the building’s services equipment is considered a success, with integration of green areas into a space previously in disuse.

The construction works for the ‘Eco-Pyramids’ situated on the roof of Raimundo Fernández Villaverde 8 have begun, as part of GEASYT’s activity in the building.

The objective of the pyramids is to reduce the visual impact of air handling units and other systems situated on the roof, providing green areas in a space that was previously unused. The building, which is managed by Madrid Espacios y Congresos and already hosts a garden in one of its courtyards, will become a good reference of the possibilities of integration of environmental solutions in buildings.

Other examples of integration of green areas in architecture include Caixa Forum’s building, situated in Madrid’s Paseo del Prado, which holds a vertical garden -designed by Patrick Blanc- in one of its façades (read more).

The project presents a wide range of design possibilities, both in building and design.

The program has been developed around a central spine, which by means of glass elements on the deck and interior courtyards, allows for interior lighting.

The building is three floors high, plus a basement that holds the parking lot as well as rooms for storage, etc.

The most important part of the programme is developed on the ground floor, where the main access for donors and workers is situated. Right across the main access one can find the cafeteria and auditorium.

The “blood factory” or Fractionation Laboratory, where blood extracted from donors or received through exterior donations is treated, takes up the central volume of the building.

The building’s backbone also contains the haematology laboratories on the ground and first floor, including offices and support areas associated to them. On the second floor one can find the research laboratories, white rooms, etc.

Administrative offices are situated in the area near the main access on the first floor. Management and direction offices are situated on the second floor.

Mobile units are located on the ground floor, close to the exit into the manoeuvre courtyard.

This is one of the last works of Antonio Palacios, who chose for this set a classic composition system based on the image of the triumphal arch that he widely developed during the Spanish Civil War in the design of projects for the refurbishment the Puerta del Sol.

The construction data is kept in Madrid’s urban development master plan of ‘97, in which the building is listed as a singular one.

The proposed refurbishment of the building, which aims to rescue the original architecture, has been subject to the opinion of the Joint Committee for Cultural Heritage.

The refurbishment of the building in Alcalá 31, as well as the ones in Caballero de Gracia 32 and 34, will turn these buildings into offices for Madrid’s local administration. Ground and first floor will contain open working spaces for customer service, as well as an exhibition hall. Floors two to six will be used as conventional office space.

The basement will hold a conference room with capacity for 90 people, with direct access from the main lobby, as well as storage and rooms for building services.

The second basement will become a parking lot, with the recovery of the lift designed in the first project.